Two women have publicly detailed allegations of sexual abuse against the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan. In a recent interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, an ICC staffer identified as Sarah spoke openly about her claims, marking the first time she has addressed the matter publicly since the allegations first surfaced late in 2024.
Sarah, a 39-year-old lawyer from Malaysia who served as Khan’s direct special assistant between 2023 and 2024, described the prosecutor’s actions as an "escalation of attempts." She detailed a pattern of behavior that she characterized as encroaching on personal boundaries, both physically and emotionally. According to Sarah, during an official visit to Colombia, Khan entered her hotel room and engaged in non-consensual touching, including groping and kissing, while she pretended to be asleep.
A second woman, identified by the pseudonym Patricia, also shared her account with Amanpour. Patricia, who previously worked for Khan earlier in his career, alleged that during an internship in 2009, she was subjected to a "constant onslaught" of inappropriate behavior while working at his residence, including unwanted physical contact and attempts to initiate intimate activity.
Karim Khan, who was elected in 2021 to a nine-year term, has denied all allegations in their entirety. His legal representative, Sareta Ashraph, stated that the claims are not new and argued that the current media attention is strategically timed ahead of a critical vote scheduled for July 24. Ashraph asserted that the "complete evidential picture" contradicts the claims presented in the media and criticized the disciplinary process as being "procedurally unfair" and politically motivated.
The ICC’s governing body suspended Khan last month after an executive committee concluded he committed serious misconduct regarding the claims involving Sarah. The matter has been referred to the court’s 125 member states, who are set to meet at the UN headquarters in New York to vote on his removal. While representatives for Khan have suggested the allegations might be part of a plot to discredit him following his 2024 move to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-defense minister, official disciplinary documents found no evidence that Sarah was acting on behalf of third parties or intelligence agencies. Sarah, who remains an ICC employee, maintained that her complaint was strictly based on her personal experience.
